We've detailed our financial situation on this blog before--it's been a mess for a long time, but we're slowly, surely seeing a light at the end of the tunnel, particularly for credit card debt.
I don't know if it's the hard financial times or what, but we've nearly gotten scammed twice in the past few months, and I wanted to post on those experiences to encourage folks who use credit cards or who have credit card debt to be vigilant.
The first time was when Rob called to transfer money off one account to a zero-interest account with Capital One. He asked the representative on the phone how much was available on the zero-interest credit line and received an answer of $700, so he transferred that amount. Turned out $700 put us a few dollars over the credit limit, which triggered a $39-fee and our interest rate got jacked up to 10%. When he called in to suggest that they remove the fee and lower our interest rate again, the representatives he talked to were politely perplexed by the situation. The fee was removed, but we're still waiting to hear the ruling on the interest rate.
The second instance was with Washington Mutual. When we first transferred money to this zero-percent interest card in June, the due date was the 23rd. Since then, it's varied from the 20th to the 23rd. Apparently, they vary their due date according to how many days are in a billing cycle. We have an automatic bill-pay system scheduled to pay out on the 19th. In December, however (big shopping month when fees and charges can get buried in a statement), the due date was pushed forward to the 18th. Our payment went through on the 19th and they slapped on a $39 late fee. Fortunately, we're paying down and not spending money on these cards, but if we weren't watching carefully, that fee would have just gone through unnoticed. I called and they agreed oh-so-willingly to a one-time removal of the fee, but couldn't tell me what my due date would be in the future. I called back again to change my due date to the 22nd, but they could only guaranteed that it would be "around" the 22nd--possibly as early as the 18th.
Credit card companies seem to turn me into a paranoid conspiracy theorist. I'll be glad when we're done with our indentured servitude to them for good. Please watch your bills, friends--the empire doesn't need your $39.
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